- Hydrogeologic properties (permeability, porosity)
Why? Porosity provides limits on available water; permeability the rate at which groundwater can be expelled to make floods
Strategy: develop self-compaction model to provide bounds on deep porosity, and use models to calculate permeability from this.
Compaction by viscous flow
- Fowler, A.C. (1985) A mathematical model of magma transport in the asthenosphere, Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., vol 33, 63-96.
Nimmo, F., R.T . Pappalardo, and B. Giese (2003) On the origins of band topography, Europa, Icarus, vol 166, 21-32.
- The self compaction model require knowledge of the initial porosity and viscosity. The latter depends on rheology and temperature (and hence thermal evolution). Rheology also depends on stress.
Initial porosity
- Binder, A.B. and M.A. Lange (1980) On the thermal history, thermal state, and related tectonism of a moon of fission origin, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 3194-3208.
Rheology
- Karato, S.I. and P. Wu (1993) Rheology of the upper mantle: A synthesis, Science, vol 260, 771-778.
- Mackwell, S.J. (1991) High-temperature rheology of enstatite: Implications for creep in the mantle, Geophys. Res. Letl., vol. 18, 2027-2030.
Heat flow and thermal evolution
- Stevenson, D.J., T. Spohn, and G. Schubert (1983) Magnetism and thermal evolution of the terrestrial planets, Icarus, vol. 54, 466-489.
- Zuber, M.T. et al. (2000) Internal structure and early thermal evolution of Mars from Mars Global Surveyor topography and gravity, Science, vol. 287, 1788-1793.
Stresses
- Arkani-Hamed, J., and L. Riendler (2002) Stress differences in the Martian lithosphere: Constraints on the thermal state of Mars, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 107, doi:10.1029/2002JE001851.
- Sleep, N.H., and R.J. Phillips (1985) Gravity and lithospheric stress on the terrestrial planets with reference to the Tharsis region of Mars, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 90, 4469-4489.
Permeability and porosity vs depth on Earth
- Athy, L.F. (1930) Density, porosity and compaction of sedimentary rocks, Bull. Am. Soc. Petrol. Eng., vol. 14, 1-24.
- Binder, A.B. and M.A. Lange (1980) On the thermal history, thermal state, and related tectonism of a moon of fission origin, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 3194-3208.
- Brace, W.B. (1984) Permeability of crystalline rocks: New in situ measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 89, 4327-4330.
- Carr, M.H. (1979) Formation of Martian flood features by release of water from confined aquifers, J. Geophys. Res., 84, 2995-3007.
- Clifford, S.M. (1993) A model for the hydrologic and climatic behaviour of water of Mars, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 10,973-11,016.
- Clifford, S.M. and T. Parker (2001) The evolution of the Martian hydrosphere: Implications for the fate of a primordial ocean and the current state of the northern plains. Icarus, vol. 154: 40-79.
- Ingebritsen, S.E., and C.E. Manning (1999) Geological implications of a permeability-depth curve for the continental crust. Geology,vol. 27: 1107-1110.
Lowell, R.P. and Y. Yao (2002) Anhydrite precipitation and the extent of hydrothermal recharge zones at ocean ridge crests. J. Geophy. Res., vol. 107, doi:10.1029/2001JB001289.
- Manning, C.E., and S.E. Ingebritsen (1999) Permeability of the continental crust: Implications of geothermal data and metamorphic systems. Rev. Geophys., vol. 37: 127 -150.
- MacKinnon, D.J. and K.L. Tanaka (1989) The impacted martian crust: Structure, hydrology, and some geologic implications, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 17,359-17,370.
- Saar, M.O. and M. Manga (2004) J. Geophys. Res., in press.
- Peak discharge? total discharge? number of floods?
Goal: to quantify the volume and peak discharge of large outburst floods on Mars by analyzing the geomorphology of the channels that they carved.
Methods:
Review and compile data in the literature.
Improve data by analyzing new Mars data.
- Baker, V. R. (1982). The Channels of Mars. Austin, University of Texas Press.
- Baker, V. R. and D. J. Milton (1974). "Erosion by Catastrophic Floods on Mars and Earth." Icarus 23(1): 27-41.
- Berman, D. C. and W. K. Hartmann (2002). "Recent fluvial, volcanic, and tectonic activity on the cerberus plains of Mars." Icarus 159(1): 1-17.
- Burr, D. M. (2003). "Hydraulic modelling of Athabasca Vallis, Mars." Hydrological Sciences Journal-Journal Des Sciences Hydrologiques 48(4): 655-664.
- Burr, D. M., J. A. Grier, et al. (2002). "Repeated aqueous flooding from the Cerberus Fossae: Evidence for very recently extant, deep groundwater on Mars." Icarus 159(1): 53-73.
- Burr, D. M., A. S. McEwen, et al. (2002). "Recent aqueous floods from the Cerberus Fossae, Mars." Geophysical Research Letters 29(1).
- Carr, M. H. (1996). Water on Mars, Oxford University Press.
- Chapman, M. G., M. T. Gudmundsson, et al. (2003). "Possible Juventae Chasma subice volcanic eruptions and Maja Valles ice outburst floods on Mars: Implications of Mars Global Surveyor crater densities, geomorphology, and topography." Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets 108(E10).
- Komatsu, G. and V. R. Baker (1997). "Paleohydrology and flood geomorphology of Ares Vallis." Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets 102(E2): 4151-4160.
- Williams, R. M., R. J. Phillips, et al. (2000). "Flow rates and duration within Kasei Valles, Mars: Implications for the formation of a martian ocean." Geophysical Research Letters 27(7): 1073-1076.
- Change in temperature and pressure from impacts
- What are the volumes of ice melted as a result of impact of various sizes
and velocities?
- What would be the re-freezing times for melted ejecta?
- Could an impact near an aquifer cause a mega-flood?
- Large impact (>100 km) apparently leads to upwelling of hot mantle which
may cause heating of the surrounding area and melting of the ground ice.
What would be the volume of melt water in the area surrounding a large
impact (>100 km) in the post-impact period due to this senario?
- Change in temperature and pressure from magma intrusion
- Change in temperature and pressure from cooling
To what extent could dissolved solids change the temperature and pressure conditions under which the liquid on Mars could exist as liquid. This study will be based on the following: P-T diagrams for water as a function of specific dissolved solid content; specific dissolved solids determined from ion content in bulk crustal composition of Mars; P-T diagrams for other candidate liquids with dissolved solids.
- Making Chaos (melting? water removal? impacts? Marsquakes?)
- Carr, M.H., Formation of Martian flood features by release of water from confined
aquifers, J Geophys. Res., 84, 2995-3007, 1979.
One of the "founding" papers discussing Chaotic terraine, which discusses chaos characteristics and its likeley collapse origins.
- Flemings P.B., Liu X., and Winters W.J., Critical pressure and multiphase flow in Blake
Ridge gas hydrates, Geology, 31 (12), 1057-60, Dec 2003.
Discusses a terrestrial collapsed terrain: Blake ridge.
- Hornbach, M.J., Saffer, D.M., Holbrook, W.S., Critically pressured free-gas reservoirs
below gas-hydrate provinces, Nature, 427 (6970): 142-144, jan 8 2004.
Further discussion of Blake Ridge.
- Lucchitta, B.K., Isbell, N.K., Howingtonkraus, A., Topography of Valles-Marineris ÿ
implications for erosional and structural history, J. Geophy. Res., 99 (E2), 3783-3798, 1994.
An in depth discussion of the morphology of the Valles-Marineris including chaotic regions.
- Max, M.D., Clifford, S.M., Initiation of Martian outflow channels: Related to the
dissociation of gas hyrdate?, Geophyiscal Research Lett., 28, 1787-1790, May 1 2001.
Discusses the potential role of gas hydrates in triggering catastrophic outburst floods and creating chaotic terrain.
- Ogawa Y., Yamagishi Y., and Kurita, K., Evaluation of melting process of the permafrost
on Mars: Its implication for surface features, J Geophys. Res., 108, 8046,
doi:10.1029/2002JE001886, 2003.
Proposes an igneous melting mechanism for the formation of the chaotic terrain and other fluvial features. Suggests that formation of chaotic terrain would have required a large amount of near-surface liquid water rather than water in a deep aquifer.
- Ori, G.G., Mosangini C., Complex depositional systems in Hydraotes Chaos, Mars: An
example of sedimentary process interactions in the Martian hyrological cycle,
J Geophys. Res., 103, 22,713-22,723, 1988.
Discusses the morphology of chaotic terrain in the Hydraotes Chaos in detail and infers that a number of different stages of flooding occurred to create the current morphology.
- Global statistics
Questions.
Are the source areas of large floods spatially coincident with any other
surface features that provide clues about the mechanisms that triggered the
floods? If certain types of features are not correlated with flood source
areas, are the spatial distributions different enough that we can rule out
the associated formation mechanisms?
Approach.
Define locations of flood source areas
1. Chaos terrain (maybe including chaos not associated with flood
channels)
2. Flood channel heads
2 types of spatial statistical comparisons:
1. distribution of point features on a sphere. (Null hypothesis:
flood source areas are randomly distributed)
Volcanoes (weighted by erupted volume?)
Large impacts (weighted by diameter?)
Crustal dichotomy
2. correlation of point feature locations with topographic
characteristics (Null hypothesis: no correlation)
Regional slope
End product.
A table of null hypotheses and significance levels at which we can reject them.
Things I'll need.
Locations of surface features
Volcanoes: Greeley, R. and P.D. Spudis, Volcanism on Mars, Rev.
Geophys. Space Phys. 19(1):13-41, 1981.
Chaos terrain: Tricky. Global geologic map of Tanaka et al is very
coarse.
Flood source areas: Digitized version of Carr's map is floating around.
Impacts: Catalog of Large Martian Impact Craters (> 5km dia), Nadine
Barlow, Northern Arizona U. (not yet public, but she'll give it to you if
you ask nicely.)
Crustal dichotomy: Wenzel et al. (GRL 2004) used a few different
definitions to define the dichotomy as a set of points.
Digital Topography
MOLA 1/128 degree DEM.
Statistical techniques
For the correlation of point feature locations with topographic
slope, a simple two-sample comparison between the frequency distribution of
slopes where floods originated and the overall frequency distribution of
slopes on Mars. Null hypothesis: the two distributions come from the same
population (i.e. floods have no slope preference).
To test whether two sets of point data are spatially coincident, the
best option is probably the Kolmogorov-Smirnoff statistic, used by Wenzel
et al. (GRL 2004) and
- Stefanic, M. and D.M. Jurdy, JGR E, 101, 4637 (1996).
also relevant:
- Turcotte, D.L., D.C. Roberts and B.D. Malamud, Cratering Statistics
on Venus, LPSC 1998, abstract 1703.
Good spherical stats texts:
- Fisher, N.I., T. Lewis & B.J.J. Embleton, Statistical Analysis of
Spherical Data. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1987.
- G.S. Watson, Statistics on Spheres, Wiley, 1983.